Use of storage systems (e.g., storage area networks (SANs), network appliances, etc.) to store data have become widespread, and may store large amounts of data (e.g., fifty (50) terabytes or more) using a plurality storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives, solid state storage devices, optical disk drives, etc.). Data stored at such storage systems may include a data (e.g., user files, applications, application data, etc.) and metadata that includes information descriptive of the data. The data may be organized into containers (e.g., directories, volumes, virtual volumes, partitions, etc.) by a file system.
Additionally, the storage systems may span across geographically disparate areas. For example, a SAN may include a first storage system located at a first location and a second set of storage system located at a second location that is remote to the first location. Data stored at the SAN may be distributed among the first storage system and the second storage system. The SAN may be coupled to client devices (e.g., personal computing devices, laptop computing devices, tablets, mobile communication devices, servers, etc.) located at the first and second locations via a network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), etc.) and may provide the client devices with access to the data stored at the first storage system and the second storage system.
As the amount of data stored in the data storage systems increases, management of the data becomes more difficult. For example, a portion of the data may be replicated (e.g., as part of a clone operation, a data relocation operation, a backup operation, etc.) from the first storage system to the second storage system. During replication of the data, access to the first storage system by client devices may be locked to prevent modification of the portion of the data until the replication is complete. Alternatively, an image (e.g., a snapshot) of the data stored at the first storage system may be captured and the portion of the data may be replicated using the image (i.e., so that client devices may continue to access the portion of the data).
Regardless of whether the portion of the data is replicated using the image or by locking access to the portion of the data, the portion of the data is replicated by performing a block-by-block copy of the data from a source storage system (e.g., the first storage system) to a destination storage system (e.g., the second storage system). This may take several minutes or hours which may introduce undesirable delays.
Additionally, when the portion of the data is replicated based on the snapshot, the client devices may modify the portion of the data prior to completing the replication. Thus, the replicated portion of the data may be inaccurate or out of date upon completion of the replication, requiring additional replication using block-by-block copying, introducing further delays.